Chapter 384
Chapter 384 – Battle of Xiapi – Part 4
The combat between Xiahou Yuan Army and Cao Cao Army were bloody . Within an hour, half of Xiahou Yuan was slain while Cao Cao's loss was minimal .
Guo Tu and Shen Pei could not find a chance to order his men to shoot a single arrow . As Xiahou Yuan marched out to fight Cao Cao on the open field, they were out of their archers' range .
After Xiahou Yuan lost half of his soldiers as they had planned, he ordered his men to withdraw to the city . Cao Cao also called his men to stop fighting and fall back, reorganizing his men .
Xu Chu retreated to the gate first with his bodyguards . He shouted to the gatekeepers, "Let us in! We're not in the condition to fight!"
Shen Pei yelled back, "Gate will not be opened! Stay in line and defend the wall!"
"BASTARD!!"
"This is our lord's direct order! We will not open the gate until the battle is over!"
"SON OF A BITCH!!"
Xu Chu was infuriated . He lifted his mace and slammed onto the bronze gate, which caused a dent into it .
The dent on the wall caused a tremor and a loud boom . Hearing the gong and sensing the small shockwave, all Yuan Shao's soldiers on the wall were astonished .
"W-We have someone this powerful!?"
"The mercenary is too strong!!"
"Amazing!!"
Everyone praised Xu Chu's strength, including the commanders . However, Shen Pei and Guo Tu had a pale face as they were afraid of Xu Chu's retaliation .
"T-They're spies, right? Sir Guo?"
"I-I think so! All cannon crews said they were spies!"
"By the way, do spies usually go so far to the point that they kill their allies to prove their innocence?"
"… I don't think an elite spy can afford that unless he wants to get himself killed by their lord . "
"Then, those men …"
"Let's hope that they're really spies . If they're really innocent, we're doomed . "
"…"
As Cao Cao stopped attacking for the rest of the day, Yuan Shao ordered the men to open the gate . Xu Chu, Xiahou Yuan, Guo Jia, and all 5,000 survivors entered the city to rest and catch their breath again .
.
West Gate
Today, Zhang Kai was assigned here as the supreme commander of the west wall to recover from yesterday's losses . His 19,000 men garrisoned on the top of the wall .
Meanwhile, Sun Jian and his 24,000 men did not lay siege . Instead, he stood still and had a staring contest with the defenders .
Cao Cao did not send him any further order, so Sun Jian acted by basing on his judgment .
Sun Jian understood the fundamental behind Cao Cao's troop placement strategy well . As they stationed on the west, which led to Cao Cao's territories, their roles were not attackers .
In a situation which Cao Cao had to retreat, everybody had to move west, and they would pass Sun Jian's current location . Although Cao Cao had not pointed out about their duties and jobs yet, Sun Jian knew that his army had already been assigned as a rearguard by default .
Thus, he prioritized his role as a rearguard and conserved their strength .
.
South Gate
The south front was still noisy as yesterday .
Today, Cao Cao did not comment on Huang Gai's losses or actions . Instead, he allowed them to act as they pleased .
Without a guideline, Huang Gai requested a piece of advice from his lord, Sun Jian .
Sun Jian ordered Huang Gai to stay put and do not do anything . They only need to surround the city and let the others finish the job . Since Huang Gai had lost too many troops already, it would be pointless to sacrifice everything for the sake of a city of someone else .
Thus, they built fences and barricades to hole themselves in a make-shift fortress before the city .
After seeing that Huang Gai built a fortification in front of them, Yan Liang lost his patience and came out alone .
"HUANG GAI! COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!!"
Yan Liang challenged Huang Gai into a duel again . His wounds had not yet healed, but he was already energetic after a day of rest .
Instead of coming out for another duel, Huang Gai turned to his soldiers .
"If there is anyone who can kill that asshole, I'll give you 1,000 gold . "
Hearing the bounty, all archers took their crossbows and aimed at Yan Liang .
*SWOOSH*
*SWOOSH*
*SWOOSH*
A rain of 1,000 arrows covered the sky, coming down for Yan Liang and his horse .
"FUCK!!"
Yan Liang galloped away in a hurry . As his lady luck was on his side, he escaped from the arrow range on time .
"FUCKING COWARD!! COME OUT AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!!"
Huang Gai yelled back, "THAT'S RICH COMING FROM A PUSSY WHO USED A HIDDEN WEAPON!!"
Yan Liang's anger shot through the roof because of the humiliation and shame . He turned around and gathered his men behind the breached wall .
"Gather all cannons and men . We'll fight them on the open field!"
All adjutants under Yan Liang were in an uproar .
"Sir, we cannot!"
"We were ordered to fight behind the wall!"
"Yes! We have to defend the city and repair the wall! We can't go out right now, or we'll be ambushed!"
Yan Liang had enough, "Silence! Get everyone readied before noon, or I'll kill everyone like I killed all those cannon crews!"
At noon, 14,000 men gather before the south wall along with their cannons, planning to break the siege .
Meanwhile, Huang Gai's men had already built barricades and plank shields, fortifying their surroundings for the defensive warfare .
Their roles switched . Yan Liang became an aggressor while Huang Gai shifted to a passive stance .
However, Huang Gai and Han Dang had more experienced than Yan Liang since they had fought many pirates together . Also, they were more creative and cool-headed .
During yesterday's fight, Han Dang had an inspiration from the cannons . Instead of using cannonballs, which limited their lethality to structures, Han Dang planned to replace the iron ball with smaller size objects, so they could damage more soldiers .
Last night, Han Dang gathered soldiers with blacksmithing backgrounds to melt cannonballs into smaller balls . However, they lacked a forge and a furnace to complete the process .
Without a choice, Han Dang used scrapped irons, bronze, and broken pieces of hard objects as a replacement and tested them .
The result was surprising . All shrapnel scattered and had the potentials to harm more soldiers than a single iron ball . Still, they damaged their cannon chamber after each shot .
Since these cannons were not theirs, Han Dang did not mind destroying them or mistreating his weaponry .
All ten cannons of Huang Gai loaded with scrapped irons, metals, and sharp objects . They had enough to fire one round at the attackers at the range between 100-200 meters .
All 15,000 Huang Gai's men spread out in a loose formation, so they would not be harmed by a cannonball from Yan Liang . Each soldier held a repeating crossbow and a thousand arrows, waiting to fire at Yuan Shao's forces .
Yan Liang gazed at Huang Gai's defensive formation with a grin .
"Fool! The loose formation is weak against close combat and cavalry units . You're asking me to charge at you head-on?"
He waved his hand and brought out all 5,000 heavy cavalries . This battalion was his last elites .
Yan Liang shouted, "All infantries, don't bother using your crossbows! The enemy wants to fight a ranged battle, but we'll strike them down . Shieldsmen, get to the front! All cavalries, gather at the right flank . You'll charge with me!"
9,000 Footmen of Yan Liang changed their formation . 3,000 Shield bearers stood on the front while the other 6,000 shieldless infantries formed ranks behind them . As for the rest of 5,000 horsemen, they gathered behind Yan Liang .
The general pointed his sword forward, "CHARGE!!"
Shield bearers marched forward, pace by pace . Meanwhile, Yan Liang and 5,000 riders galloped ahead, aiming to pincer Huang Gai and Han Dang Army from the side .
Seeing the oncoming troops, Huang Gai bellowed, "LEFT FLANK, FORM SPEARWALLS!! ARROWS! FIRE AT WILL!!"
Huang Gai rushed to the left flank of their army to mark Yan Liang while Han Dang remained behind to command the infantries against the enemy footmen .
Out of 15,000 soldiers, three battalions, each with 1,000 men, managed to form spearwall formation to counter Yan Liang's charge .
The 5,000 heavy cavalries ran over the first spearwall battalion without fear . Their supplement scale armor and lamellar leather armor protected their body, so most spears could not harm the riders .
The first battalion of 1,000 men collapsed within a minute . All soldiers did not make it through the charge .
The second battalion managed to take down a few horses, but they collapsed as well . This time, a hundred of the second group survived .
The last 1,000 spearmen managed to stop the charge at the cost of 700 soldiers . Unfortunately, Yan Liang was smart enough to pull back before their horses lost all of their momentum and speed .
Still, 1,000 horses fell as they were not fully equipped with armor like the riders .
Half of the fallen horsemen were left behind by the other riders, which were killed by the surviving spearmen . As for the remaining 500 horseless soldiers, they regrouped as a make-shift battalion and retaliated against the surviving spear users .
The stragglers were on the verge of victory, but someone appeared with more reinforcement .
Huang Gai galloped forward with 1,000 light horsemen . With a swing of his halberd, five soldiers were cleaved in half, scattering their blood and innards over his body .
"YAN LIANG!!"
3,000 Arrows from archers rained onto the fleeing cavalries of Yan Liang . Most arrows did not harm the armored riders, but they still maimed a few soldiers and horses .
300 Rider went down, leaving Yan Liang with 3700 heavy cavalries remaining . As for the surviving stragglers, Huang Gai and his light horsemen made quick work out of them, revenging for their colleagues .
The trade was a disaster for Huang Gai as he lost almost 3,000 men in an instant, while he only took 1,300 riders down .
Although it was a loss, Huang Gai grinned .
"Losing a few battles is nothing . As long as we can win the war, all sacrifices are worth it!"
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
On the other flank, Yan Liang's cannons began firing at Han Dang's defensive formation and structures . Plank walls and several barricades were destroyed with a round of fire . Two of the cannon balls killed five of his soldiers, which was minimal damage .
Still, Han Dang did not take this lying down .
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
*BOOM*
Ten cannons fired back at the attacking 9,000 footmen . The make-shift slug shells scattered and rained onto the shield bearers and soldiers behind them .
"AHHHH!!"
The result was a phenomenon . Since Yan Liang's assault units packed in a dense formation to shield against arrows, all scraps found their targets .
One round of volley killed 100 soldiers and injured over 500 men instantly, which caused more harm than ten iron cannonballs .
The majority of casualties came from the soldiers behind the shield bearers . However, the latter was not so lucky either as their plank shields could not defend against cannon projectiles .
The shield wall formation was half-collapsed from the first volley, which gave an opening to archers .
5,000 Arrows covered the sky once more as Han Dang ordered his men to fire all arrows at the footmen .
